Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Papa

 Papa came to visit at the beginning of June and we could not have had any more fun!  We went to Como Zoo, we went on walks, we went to the MOA (a few times), the Aquarium, and to the Water Park of America! The kids were super excited to play with Papa, and I was excited to show him around this city we've called home for the past year (any other takers for a tour? Julie? Mom? anyone?)  Every morning Elijah would wake up and ask to sit on the porch to wait for Papa.  Then eventually Papa would soon arrive and Elijah would instantly want him to race cars with him.  Evie got some snuggles in too.
 The 'stroller coaster'




 The amazing idea for a hotel room. What's this? A large closet?  Pull the curtain back and it's a bunk bed!!

Its been almost a month he has been back home and Elijah is still asking to go to Papas hotel or to play with Papa.  The other day we were leaving church and elijah saw a car that looked similar to Papas and he called, "Hey! dats Papas car! Let's follow it!!"  We miss you Papa, but we are so happy you could come see us!

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

3 year old memories

Sometimes i forget or just don't realize how fast elijah and evie are growing up.  For instance today, when I told elijah that his cartoons were not on right now because it was mommy's turn to watch a show, I went into the kitchen and came back to find Elijah on the couch, remote in hand.
"Wook, mama, I found Dinosaur Train for me."
He had changed the channel to PBS.
The things he remembers is also baffling to me sometimes.  We live down the street from a little hardware store where last summer, they had a kiddie pool hanging in the window.  Tammy bought this same pool for elijah last summer.  Just today, we drove by and they had the pool in the window again.  Elijah sits up and points out the window, "Mama!  My pool!  Tammy got dat for me."
Also, when Papa Mickey came to stay, he stayed a few nights at the Water Park of America hotel, which is right by the MOA and Ikea.  We drove to Ikea yesterday and elijah saw, from a great distance, a waterslide.  "Dats Papa's hotel, mama."
I have to keep reminding him that Papa had to go home to visit lizzie and her new baby brother, to which he always replies that he wants to go to Papa's house and see lizzie

Please enjoy these pictures that Elijah took himself.







Thursday, June 14, 2012

Crossfit: The sport of fitness

 Everybody in our family knows, in a sense, about crossfit.  However, did you know that you can compete in CrossFit?  Well, Tony does.  Out of about 2500 guys competing throughout a ten state region, Tony placed 50th, which meant he qualified to compete at the regional competition in Chicago!  So about mid-May, we took to the road and cruised in to the surrounding Chicago area.
Here is a little view of the indoor field where the competition was taking place.  Reebok is the big sponsor of all the crossfit events.
Free photo booth = this
It was hard to get pictures just having my phone.  Tony is in the black, behind the guy in blue, waiting for the workout to begin.
Mid pull-up
Waiting for a different workout to begin.
  They had this mini buffet style sort of set up for all the competing athletes.  It was pretty funny.  If anyone knows what the Paleo diet is, it is very big in the crossfit community, so that is the type of food they had.  Bananas, apples, almond butter, almonds, a sort of dried fruit and nut trail mix and grilled chicken.  oh, and coconut water.  Breakfast of champions. Needless to say we tried to keep the diet pretty clean, but we had to go out to try some of the chicago cuisine after!
 Deep dish.  Deeeep.  

YUMMY!
  and dont worry, before we left town we grabbed some chicago dogs.
The whole experience was a lot of fun and learning for Tony for future competition.  We were able to go along with some good friends that came to support Tony.  I am so proud of him and how hard he has worked and is still working!  I think we will be back again next year! (well, Tony will to compete. I will to eat.)

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

A little recap

 So I know it has been a month, I apologize. I will start my string of blog post by just doing a little overview of what happened in May.
Evie her food, then ate everyone elses food as well.
Then she tried on my shoes.  Evie can pull off walking on her tip toes, but heels aren't quite the same.
 She insisted on wearing this easter hat everywhere.
 Elijah planted some seeds in egg cartons, which were promptly knocked over by Evie when we got home.
Evie blew her nose.
 We ate ice cream.
 And went out for breakfast.

 Evie got her permit. Wait a second..
 We took a picture by a tree that apparently has been the spot for many pictures past.
Some of these might have been repeats, but oh well.  That was just a few things that have gone on around here.  We also went to Chicago for Crossfit regionals, but I will post more about that later.  Also, Papa Mickey came to visit and we had FUN. And finally, we also went up to cloquet for a cousin high school graduation, but again more on all these later this week.  I know, you can hardly wait!